Good Friday, the day of ultimate sacrifice, divine giving to humankind. How often do you hear or say the phrase, the Paschal Mystery? Well, today you are living through two major parts of the mystery -- the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. This is the two-fold divine gift to each and everyone of us. It is the Father's gift of his Son who accepted crucifixion as a means to bring redemption. It is the Son's gift of offering his suffering and death to fulfill the Father's will for him.
It is for these reasons that we call this particular Friday "Good" and this week "Holy." And yet, when you stop to consider all that took place during this week and on this day of that week, these words seem to be so minimal.
As mentioned in an earlier posting, the Isaiah reading that we have duirng this week focus on the suffering Jesus. He is portrayed as the Suffering Servant. Why? Because what he endured during this week and on this Good Friday was accepted to respond to the Father's will and to bring justice to all of God's people. What we recall about this day is great sacrifice and death for each one of us. It is truly all about each one of us today. This might be something like a mantra we should keep in our minds today: it was all about me! It was all about me! Each nail, driven into his body: it was all about me.
As a thorny crown was forced into his head: it was all about me. Each inch of torn skin on his back: it was all about me. A lance was thrust into his side: it was all about me. Perhaps you might read the following words from Isaiah. Here is the summation of the gift you were given today.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him, so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it.Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.
Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.
Can you read these words and not be moved? Can you ponder these painful descriptions and not ask yourself, "Why did he do this for me?" Can you answer yourself, "Because it was all about me!
